Explore the archive
Find articles and conversations by date, subject or search expression.
Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 1–30 of 39
Post
I haven't spotted an on-line version of this yet (SStimes Editorial, 29 Mar 2009) but wanted to pull a couple of quotes out that made sense to me: Helen Clark's new post is an achievement, both for her and New Zealand. She is the outstanding…
Post
The Weekend Herald's front page proclaims '$2 billion more in the pocket". The article goes on to say "the average worker will get $15.66 a week". But who is this 'average worker'? The Herald has used the average wage, which is $47,500 a year, but…
Post
On Q+A this morning, Judith Collins couldn't defend prisons for profit but she sounded quite reasonable when talking about the need for more rehabilitation. She even criticised Labour for longer sentences that are leading to overcrowding in the prisons. Good sentiments but, funny, it doesn't…
Post
Earlier this week we pointed out that John Key has started running a new line. Now instead of calling touchy-feely liberal policies on things like climate change and public health 'PC gone mad' (too Don Brash), National is referring to them as 'hug a polar…
Post
Well well well. According to the Herald: "New Zealanders are being asked whether the Government should allow nuclear-powered ships back into our waters ... workers for a market research company have disclosed they have been polling voters about nuclear power". Bravo to the staff involved…
Post
Just when the Kiwi corporate kleptocracy was kicking into high gear to ensure that the taxpayer is properly stuck with the paying the whole of New Zealand's Kyoto carbon bill according to the time honoured ‘privatise the profit, socialize the loss' principle, the Labour /Green…
Post
Seeing some of Rod Emmerson's cartoons in the Herald over 2009 thus far, you'd think we were into the Right's nightmare of a fourth term Labour-led government. With Helen Clark's new position at the U.N of course she'll continue to be in the news. But…
Post
This week Sealord confirmed it would lay off 130 staff to improve its already healthy return on capital. The other 400 have been threatened with the sack if they don't accept pay cuts. The Service and Food Workers Union has put together a youtube clip…
Post
We often hear that labour productivity is not growing fast enough and some argue it should be a focus of government economic policy. Yesterday, for example, Bill English was trying to blame the recession on the average growth in productivity under Labour. However, economists like…
Post
When I first saw this clip of Paul Henry publicly ridiculing Greenpeace's Stephanie Mills for (in his view) having a moustache I decided not to give it any more oxygen. But now that it's on the Herald website I guess the horse has bolted. There's…
Post
Over at his site Shepard Fairey, the creater of the Obama "HOPE" poster, has an update on his legal wrangle with the Associated Press. I'm sure a lot of people are wondering about my case with the AP over the Obama HOPE poster. I can't…
Post
It doesn't need to be long but remember to keep it clean.
Post
As Minister of Works responding to a disaster in his portfolio, Bob Semple famously said 'I am responsible but not to blame'. That has become one of our political mores. If they are not personally at fault, ministers shouldn't have to take the blame when things…
cycleway economy employment john key national/act government
Post
Over the last few days the online news media have been getting increasingly wound up over some Australian expat guy who's apparently said some rude things about New Zealand on his blog. I usually don't bother with this kind of insufferable tabloid crap, but as…
Post
One of the most cavalier and foolish actions of the National led government during its first 100 day blitz of legislation (in itself described by many as an assault on democracy) was the cancellation of the R&D tax credit. The business community warned well in…
Post
If the definition of PC is doing things because they fit an ideology, not because they make sense, then it's clear National and ACT are pushing their own PC agenda. It's out with successful and value-for-money programs like Mission-On. For a small cost now in…
Post
The Key/English odd couple continue to give us a sweet and sour mix of messages - one with rosy promises that the recession will be over any day and the other issuing dark threats that we can't have a stimulus package only public service cuts. In…
Post
Drinking Liberally is meeting this evening in both Wellington and Christchurch. DL Wellington has Andrew Little speaking at the Southern Cross Bar on "the greater Labour movement and how it can mobilise and lobby against the current National Government". Talk starts at 6pm, people usually…
Post
Toad's post on coastal shipping deserves re-posting: Coastal shipping is the most energy efficient means of moving freight. A ship consumes 75 - 80 percent less fuel than a truck per tonne hauled. It's just got to be the way to go. The United States…
Post
Stephen Joyce keeps saying the reason he has slashed investment in public transport to build more roads is that he is giving the people what they want. He says most people get to work in a car, so people must want cars. What wonderful logic. Imagine…
Post
Now "PC gone mad" has been used to the point where even people who think mimicking Tui's "yeah right" slogan is cutting edge irony wouldn't be seen dead using the phrase, National has needed to come up with something else to do the job. Because…
Post
Rodney Hide, who thinks nothing of spending billions on tax cuts for the well-off, is baulking at spending "some tens of millions" to improve water supply quality in rural New Zealand. A quick google of 'water borne disease new zealand' reveals the cost of doing nothing. There…
Post
First they go up, and then they come down. The Economist has an interesting table on the housing bubble. Those figures from the US just look outright scary. The result of the sub-prime mortgage and its consequent effects. There is also an interesting article in…
Post
Boing Boing reports that: The London police have bested their own impressive record for insane and stupid anti-terrorism posters with a new range of signs advising Londoners to go through each others' trash-bins looking for "suspicious" chemical bottles, and to report on one another for…
Post
Roger Douglas in a press release today: National's goal of a top personal, company and trustee tax rate of 30 cents in the dollar is laudable - but it must remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch, ACT New Zealand Finance…
Post
From The Herald: Former Prime Minister Helen Clark will be named today as head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a report says. Political newsletter Trans-Tasman reported the appointment today, though a spokesman for Miss Clark, prime minister from 1999 until 2008, would not…
Post
No, wait, they didn't. Idiot/Savant from No Right Turn explains: Back in 2006, the (then-Labour) government passed the Appropriation (Parliamentary Expenditure Validation) Bill, which retrospectively validated Parliamentary Services expenditure in the wake of a nonsensical, retrospective reinterpretation by the Auditor-General. The rabids in the sewer…
Post
No Right Turn puts the farce of the governments spin into perspective in Public relations replaces policy II. I'm just going to quote it... Earlier in the month the government announced that they were spending $1 billion on state highways. It was apparent from the…
Post
Growing up I always knew the rich had it better than us. It's only now that I'm one of the wealthy that I realise how much we've got it in our favour. Next week the government is giving me, for no reason I can work…
Post
Prime Minister John Key has promised a national cycleway to solve the country's economic woes. I intend to keep you informed of exactly how the cycleway is progressing. Yes, never fear, Eddie will dig out all the dirty details: how far the cycleway's progressed, how…